Life After War Revamped!
by question-mark007
Summary: I got stuck with LAW, so I'm redoing it! This is the story of what happened the war all the way to Albus's first day of school. Mainly HxG but has all cannon parings and some new friends! If you've read my old one, give this one a try!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so I'm rewriting this because there are some plot points I want to change, and I got stuck with where I was.

Disclaimer: I own nothing even remotely lightning-scar related.

_**Enough Trouble for a lifetime**_

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down the spiral staircase of Dumbledore's office, not talking, just simply being thankful that they had made it to the end of the war alive.

"Harry, I think I should go to the Great Hall. My family needs me." Ron said.

"Alright, do whatever you need to. I'm going to the dormitory; I'm exhausted." Harry replied.

"Harry, I'm going with Ron. Are you going to be alright by yourself?" Hermione said, looking concerned. Harry nodded, to be honest he didn't know what the answer was, all he knew was that he needed sleep. With that, Harry dragged himself to the Gryffindor common room. He didn't need the password, as no one was concerned with students in other houses' common rooms. He slowly ascended the staircase to the dormitory that he'd lived in for six years and collapsed on his bed. He was asleep before he could remove his trainers or glasses.

The next thing Harry knew, he was being shaken lightly on the shoulder.

"Harry"

"Harry!"

"Come on Harry! Wake up!"

Harry opened his eyes slowly. He was face to face with Ron and Hermione.

"Morning" he said grudgingly.

"Try 'afternoon' Harry" Ron said smiling slightly.

"Afternoon? Are you serious? How long have I been asleep?" Harry said, his brain moving rather slowly.

"About 32 hours" Hermione remarked.

"Impressive. So what'd I miss?"

Hermione shot a nervous look at Ron who immediately took over.

"Well, Mum nearly went mental when you came up here because she, well to be honest I'm not sure why she went mental. We were all mourning Fred and doing some planning for his funeral. Everyone's in hell, mate. We all miss him and we're not leaving George by himself so, according to Bill, he can't do something that would make us even _more _depressed…if you catch my drift. Ginny's not talking. To anyone. She's down in the common room and glances towards the boys dormitory ever few minutes or so." Harry sat up a little straighter as Ron continued, "We've mostly forgiven Percy, who we're also not leaving alone because he feels like it should've been him, not Fred. And there's someone in the common room who wants to talk to you."

"Who?" Harry questioned, mind racing.

"I dunno. I didn't get a good look at her face, but she's carrying a baby." Ron shrugged.

"Harry, you should go clean yourself up, then see what she wants." Hermione suggested.

"Okay. Tell her I'll be down in about 20 minutes, will you?"

They nodded and left him to make himself presentable for the stranger.

After a much-needed shower and a shave, Harry made his way to the common room. Truth be told, he had a hunch on who the mystery woman was but didn't want to say anything to Ron and Hermione so they would leave her alone and wouldn't ask him to many questions. He stood at the door leading to the dormitory, watching the Weasleys, who where sitting by the fire. George sat between Percy and Charlie while Fleur sat on Bill's lap in an armchair. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat talking quietly to Ron and Hermione. Ginny sat on the floor staring at the fire. She glanced at the door to the boys' dormitory and saw Harry watching them. Their eyes locked for a moment before Hermione saw him and ran over.

"Harry! We were wondering when you'd be coming down. Come on." She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to where the Weasley's were.

"Harry dear, how are you? You look a bit peaky. Have you been to Madam Pomfrey?" Mrs. Weasley asked in rapid succession.

"I'm fine Mrs. Weasley" he replied, then turning to Ron and Hermione, he said, "Where is she?"

Ron jerked his head in the direction of a far corner of the common room. Harry looked in the direction indicated by Ron and felt his stomach drop. There in the far corner of the common room, holding a little bundle of blankets was none other than Andromeda Tonks.

Harry swallowed hard. He couldn't believe his eyes. _What the hell is she doing here? Why does she want to talk to me? _Then it hit him: his godson. _Of course! She's here because, other than her, I'm all Teddy has._

"Harry?" Hermione's voice interrupted his internal monologue.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Do you recognize her? She looks an awful lot like Bellatrix Lestrange. Do you think they're related?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said distracted, "they're sisters...or were sisters." He shook his head, trying to clear it before walking over to where Andromeda was sitting.

"Mrs. Tonks?" harry said, trying to be as polite as possible.

"What? Oh hello Harry. How are you?" she responded, slightly flustered.

"I'm fine," he said. He noted how that seemed to be his automatic response to that question, regardless of the truth.

"Hogwash," she stated, "I may have recently lost my whole family, with the exception of little Teddy here, but I can still tell that you are most certainly NOT fine. Now do not insult my intelligence or my parenting skills. Tell me the truth."

Harry was taken aback. No one had ever called him out like that before. He knew what she said was true so he decided to do something he rarely ever did: say what he felt.

"Alright, fair enough," he started, "I'm not sure how I feel or how I should feel. I'm confused, tired, and grieving. Then there's the survivor's guilt and that I'm happy that it's over but I'm in hell because of the people who we lost. I also feel like its all my fault, like if I could have just ended it sooner they'd still be alive. Not to mention that I gave up EVERYTHING I had going for me so I could fight this war, so now what am I going to do now its over? Then there's the inj-" He stopped talking when he realized that Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley where standing behind him.

"Umm…so how long have you been standing there?" he asked not looking anyone in the eye, as he had just poured his heart out (something he was strongly against) and was most embarrassed by it.

"Harry, do really feel that way?" and "long enough" were their answers.

Hermione, however, looked thoughtful. After a few awkward seconds, she said "what where you saying when you noticed we where here?"

"Nothing" now he was getting uncomfortable; this was a dangerous road to go down.

She was about to reply when Ginny spoke, looking him directly in the eye.

"Harry, its not your fault. None of it is. The only death that is your fault is Voldemort's. No one blames you for any of it."

Harry sighed. _Might as well bite the bullet on this one_, he thought.

"I know no one blames me, but I was raised in a world where everything bad thing that happened was my fault. Like if my cousin got bad marks in school, it was my fault or if the car broke down, it was my fault. So then I'd get punished. And trust me when I tell you that you do not want to know what the punishments were." He told them as quickly as possible, so as not to be interrupted.

"Right, Harry, I wanted to talk to you about Teddy. Now by law you are his rightful guardian and may do with him what you wish. I, unfortunately, have no say in the matter. I will, however, give suggestions, like-" Harry cut her off saying: "Mrs. Tonks, I think it'd be best if you continued to care for him. I would like to take care of him, but as I'm not really the parent-type, I think it'd be best if I just babysit occasionally."

"That would be great Harry. I want him to grow up with a father figure, you know, someone to be a role model" she smiled at him and her resemblance to her sister diminished significantly.

"I'll do my best" Harry said grinning, "Now I'm starving, lets go get some food."

**I know I didn't change much in this chapter, but I liked it how it was. There will be more significant changes in the future chapters and since I've already written a lot of this story, I'll be updating soon! Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas or suggestions! Please review!**


	2. AndIt's Story Time!

_If I owned Harry Potter, Ginny would've been in the books more and I would've demanded she be in the movies more. So I clearly do not own the Harry Potter-verse_.

The group entered the nearly deserted Great Hall and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Mrs. Weasley started busying herself by loading everyone's plates and fussing over the appearances of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Really, you all look like you haven't eaten in years!" she complained.

"Especially you Harry, you look horrible. You really should go see Madam Pomfrey" Ginny noted.

"Thanks a lot Ginny, and I really am fine." Harry said exasperated.

"Actually Harry, I don't think it would be such a bad idea. Look! There she is now. Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione called.

"Hermione, honestly! Don't-" Harry started, but was interrupted by the arrival of the school matron.

"Yes Ms. Granger? What do you need?" she inquired.

"Its Harry. He thinks he doesn't need medical attention, when we all know that's a complete and utter lie." Hermione told her, glaring at Harry, who glared back at her.

"Hermione! For the tenth time: I'm fine. There is NOTHING wrong with me." he said. He was starting to get very annoyed.

"Alright then Harry, if you're fine then why are you limping?" Hermione said smugly. Harry froze. He knew it was true, but the last thing he wanted was to have it healed in front of everyone. He'd rather just suffer until it healed on its own.

"Well Mr. Potter, it looks like you've lost this battle. So which ankle is it?" Madam Pomfrey smiled

"The left one, and that's it, there's nothing else." Harry said firmly.

"Harry, don't be stupid. She can probably heal your scars if you want." Hermione said as if explaining to a child that one plus one equals two.

"Do you mean this scar, Hermione?" he said indicating the scar on his chest, just over his heart given to him by the locket horcrux. "Because that one cant be healed; it's been there for too long."

"Aww, little Harry has a broken heart" Bill and Ron snickered, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley glared at them.

"It's not exactly funny Mr. Weasley. Mr. Potter, let me see the scar please," the matron ordered.

"Madam Pomfrey, I really don't think that's such a good I-" Harry started, glancing at all the people who surrounded him.

"Now, Mr. Potter" she said firmly. Sensing he had no choice, he obliged and removed his shirt.

"Hmm…I think you might be right; this cannot be healed by magic, only time." She said.

"Told you, Hermione, now, can I put my shirt back on now?" he asked.

"Yes, I think that—wait a moment, what is this?" she asked pointing at the large purple and black bruise that covered a good portion of his chest.

"Well, when Voldemort hit me with the killing curse last night, that's where it hit me. That's also where, while I was playing dead, he hit me with the Cruciatus Curse to humiliate me in front of his Death Eaters and threw me in the air then against the ground…come to think of it, that must have been when I broke my ankle…" Harry told them.

"That's horrible, Harry." Ginny said looking like she was about to burst into tears. Under the table, Harry took her hand and gave it a quick, reasuring squeeze before remembering that they had broken up and let go.

"Yes it is, Ms. Weasley and, Mr. Potter, if you don't mind I think that the Minister and myself would like to hear the whole story." Said Professor McGonagall, who had appeared, unnoticed, with Kingsley.

"Professo, that could get a lot of people in a lot of trouble. We didn't have a choice, but we occasionally had to break laws." Harry said apprehensively, he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell any one what they had been through.

"There will be no penalty for any broken laws; we will simply forget the laws that may or may not have been broken. Agreed?" Kingsley said in his deep calming voice.

"Agreed" Harry sighed, "can the Weasleys come listen in too? They deserve this as much as you do, and this isn't a story I'm going to want to tell more than once" he added as an after thought.

"Whatever you want Harry; its not my place to stop you" the Minister replied. Harry nodded in response.

"Good, now that that's settled, shall we go up to my office to hear this without the fear of being overheard by eavesdroppers?" Professor McGonagall said. And so they made their way out of the Great Hall. No sooner had they reached the Entrance Hall than George and Percy joined them. Upon them joining the group, Percy gave Harry a cold stare. This irritated Harry, but soon forgot it as Andromeda said good-bye, explaining that she needed to get home to put Teddy down for a nap.

On the way to the gargoyle that protects the headmistress's office, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discussed in hushed tones where they would start the story and what they would say.

As they reached the gargoyle, Professor McGonagall said the password 'Victory' and they proceeded to go up the spiral staircase.

"Harry, if you will" McGonagall gestured to the center of the room once they were all settled.

"Well, I guess I'll start with the prophecy" he began, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to calm himself.

"You know about the Hall of Prophecy and about the prophecy, but I'm the only person who knows the exact wording of it: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the power is love and you can figure the rest out on your own" Harry paused to catch his breath.

"Harry, you never told us about the 'power the Dark Lord knows not'" Hermione said, sounding hurt.

"Hermione, imagine being 15 and you've just seen your godfather die and its your fault. Then you're told that you're going to kill or be killed and that the power that's supposed to keep you alive is love. How many people would you tell?" Harry countered. She fell silent, so he continued.

He told them about Voldemort's childhood and about the horcruxes. When it came time for him to name them, Hermione pulled the ones they had from the beaded bag. He carefully chose his words when he told them that Tom Riddle's diary was one. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ginny go pale and burry her face in her hands.

He then told them about what happened when they left the wedding and infiltrating the ministry. Mr. Weasley shifted uncomfortably when Harry told them that he had impersonated Runcorn, as he had yelled at Runcorn that day. He 'forgot' to mention that he had looked at Mr. Weasley's file. From that point on, Ron and Hermione would interrupt to add their own opinions, comments, or to add something that Harry had not mentioned. Harry tried as much as possible to add bits of humor to his tale so as not to make it seem like a horror story.

As expected when they found out about Ron leaving Harry and Hermione, Ginny openly glared at Ron, who was refusing to look anyone in the eye. Harry told them about Godric's Hollow and Ron's return, skating over what the horcrux had said to Ron. He told them about the incident at the Lovegoods' house. He told them about the Deathly Hallows and Malfoy Manner. Then about Shell Cottage and planning to break into Gringotts. Finally about the break in and what happened during the Final Battle. He shocked everyone in the room with the true colors of Severus Snape. He even told them about how Snape and Lily had been friends. He quietly told them about what happened in the forest and why he had to play dead. He ended his story by apologizing for not telling them this from the beginning and for any pain that he had caused them. Harry, Ron and Hermione had agreed to tell the tale with as little detail as possible, and only stick to important things, so as to spare themselves and the others the pain of reliving it. Apparently this plan hadn't worked thought, as Mrs. Weasley had started crying at some point during the time Harry was talking. The room sat in silence for a moment before Kingsley spoke.

"Harry, I appreciate you telling us this and I will assure the ministry that any laws broken where unavoidable and for the good of mankind." He said, kindly. Harry nodded in response, as his voice was nearly gone from talking so much.

"I think that it would be wise to go get some food, seeing as we have been here for over 3 hours and I am sure Mr. Weasley is hungry." Professor McGonagall said, looking at Ron. So they went back to the Great Hall, speaking in hushed tones about all that had been revealed. Mrs. Weasley was attacking Harry in a massive hug, while Ginny pulled Hermione aside.

"When did you and Ron come to your senses?" Ginny asked

"I don't know what you're talking about" she said slowly turning red.

"Well, it's just that you've been holding hands and grinning like idiots when ever you look at each other." Ginny said smiling.

"Well, if you must know I kissed him the night of the battle and when we talked afterwards we realized that we had both been idiots and as Ron said 'why put off the inevitable?'" Hermione said very fast. Ginny smiled and continued to head to the Great Hall when Hermione said something that made her freeze.

"What'd you say?" Ginny asked

"I asked what about you and Harry?" Hermione replied smirking.

"What about me and Harry?" she said slowly.

"Oh come on Ginny! You know full well what!" Hermione replied

"Nothing's happened. He held my hand for about a second and a half but then McGonagall and Kingsley showed up…" Ginny said not bothering to hide her disappointment.

"I'll bet that he'll say something before the weeks up. He missed you, and you didn't hear this from me but he used to get out the Marauder's Map to stare at you name…I think it helped him know that you were okay and that he had made the right choice. I know that it was a very hard one for him to make" Hermione said knowingly.

"Thanks Hermione, I needed to hear that" Ginny gave her a small smile.

"Hey Ginny, Hermione are you coming? Mrs. Weasley's about to send out a search party to look you." Harry laughed.

"We're coming Harry. We were just talking" Ginny said evasively, turning red. Harry arched an eyebrow at Hermione, who shook her head walked in the Great Hall. Wow, girls are confusing. They're crying one second and laughing the next. Harry thought, shaking his head before following the girls to the Great Hall.

**Again, not much change, but I did insert a hint of a new plot point! Super Brownie Points to anyone who can guess it! Please, Please, Please review! I didn't get any for my last chapter, and I'd love to change that! Even if it's only remedial English like 'good' or 'interesting'. I don't care, just show us little love! **


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